National junior athletics | Kiran rewrites his 110m hurdles record

Kiran sets new National record in 110m hurdles, Jay Kumar breaks U-20 400m record at National junior athletics championships.

Seventeen-year-old Kiran bettered his own National record in the under-18 men’s 110m hurdles semifinals in the morning before cruising to the title in the evening in the National junior athletics championships at the Kalinga Stadium here on Monday.

Kiran erased his 13.52 mark set in the National youth championships in June by clocking 13.47 in the semifinals, almost jogging in the last five meters.

In the final, the Palakkad boy produced another dominant show. “The morning was pleasant. Later, my body became tight and the weather was humid in the evening. It might have affected my time in the final,” said Kiran, whose time was better than that of the U-20 winner Sandeep Gond.

Pooja, who narrowly missed a new National record due to a lower-back issue while attempting 1.85m in high jump overnight, showed his grit and achieved the mark in heptathlon.

Jay Kumar smashed Amoj Jacob’s seven-year-old U-20 men’s 400m meet record with a time of 46.29. The Delhi lad, who saw off Astik Pradhan’s challenge despite the local favourite clocking his personal best (46.97), missed the National mark by 0.03 seconds.

The results (winners only):

Under-20: Men: 400m: Jay Kumar (Del) 46.29 (NMR, Old, 46.59, Amoj Jacob, 2017); 3000m: Mohit Yadav (MP) 8:16.84; 110m hurdles: Sandeep Gond (Mah) 14.02; 10000m race walk: Amit Kumar (Cht) 42:18.13; High jump: Sagar Roy (WB) 2.04m; Shot put: Siddharth Chaudhary (Raj) 19.16m; 4x100m relay: Odisha 41.10 (NMR, Old, 41.28, Tamil Nadu, 2019); Women: 400m: Dhesikha V. (TN) 55.03; 3000m: Sonam Parmar (MP) 9:44.16; 100m hurdles: Crystal Vadakel (Mah) 14.10; 4x100m relay: Maharashtra 47.13 (NMR, old, 47.18, Kerala, 2019).